Monday, August 29, 2011

Recipe for Family Night

Saturday was a little all over the place for our family. Marc had to work most of the day, which was a bummer, but the kids and I were able to get some errands done (much to their protests of course), Corrinne made some killer sales for her school fundraiser, and I weeded the flower bed (much bigger job than you'd ever imagine). As if that weren't enough, I was in one of those moods (ladies, I know you feel me) where everything hurt my feelings and everyone was annoying me (especially preteen attitudes), but Family Night is really important to us, so it was game on! P.S. if you need some yummy cookie dough for your freezer, I know a very special little girl eager to sell you some!

Like many of you, I'm always on the lookout for family dinner recipes that everyone at the table will eat. I'd mentioned to Marc that we should do enchiladas for family night this week. Maybe it had something to do with watching The Pioneer Woman making her enchiladas with Paula Deen that morning, or maybe because we've had all the ingredients waiting in our pantry since May. Either way, they sounded really good. Just needed some extra onions, green peppers, and tortillas from the store and we were ready to go!

While we were at the store, the kids and I discussed what we should eat with the enchiladas, and Corrinne announced she had the PERFECT queso recipe. She wanted to make it all by herself in the kitchen to surprise us and said that no one was allowed to help since we didn't know the "masteries" of the recipe. I have a feeling I know how she did it though...

Corrinne and her delicious queso salsa!

While we lapped up every last bit of that queso, Marc got his famous chicken on the grill.

Omigoodness! Comes out perfect every time!

Then he sauteed some green peppers and onions, sliced the chicken and started filling the tortillas.

Meanwhile I started working on my latest cookie attempt.

I'll get into that in another post though because as you'll see later, I did not end up baking those cookies Saturday night. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill kept us groovin' while we put the finishing touches on the enchiladas, while Corrinne and Carter watched The Pagemaster.

I was so close to catching him with his arm around his sister!

Corrinne danced her way through setting the table.

Out came our delicious dinner, and we dug in!

Covered in sauteed peppers and onions, sauce and cheese, yum!

Marc made spinach and black bean enchiladas for the kiddos.
Corrinne insisted they were brown beans because she "doesn't
like black beans," until we showed her the can!

During dinner I mentioned we should start doing family night games, and we all agreed we needed UNO, which would require a trip to the store. Once we cleaned up after dinner, and I was preparing the baking sheets for my cookies, Marc had the brilliant idea to let everyone pick out their own dessert since we were going to the store already. He totally forgot that I was baking cookies, which promptly hurt my feelings, which we discussed and worked out later. I didn't want to spoil everyone's fun; the kids were excited to go pick out something special! He realized later. He was sorry :).

After picking up a stowaway (neighbor friend), we headed
to the store. Kids got distracted by their favorite game.

Marc, Corrinne and Maggie decided on root beer floats. Carter and I chose different pints of ice cream. Everyone was happy! I had to invent my own ice cream though - why doesn't anyone have a coffee flavored ice cream with fudge brownies? I just mixed two together!

Yay for family and fun, even in the face of crankiness (and possibly hormones)! Here's our recipe, and recipes for Family Night:

1 package of UNO cards

1 package of Skip-Bo cards

1 DVD - The Pagemaster

Good Music

Family and love

Marc's Enchiladas

Root Beer Floats

Your choice of Ben and Jerry's ice cream

Marc's Famous Grilled Chicken

4-5 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Grillmates Chicken Rub

Coat the chicken liberally in the rub and grill on medium-high heat until just done. Now, you'll have to ask Marc what the magic amount of time is, but I do know he's very careful not to overcook the chicken. The rub also helps protect the chicken from losing its moisture, and tastes amazing no matter what recipe you're using the chicken for!

Sautee onions and peppers in a bit of butter and olive oil. Fill each tortilla with sliced chicken, onions and peppers, fold up like a burrito and place in baking dish with the folded side down. If you choose to make the spinach and black bean enchiladas, fill each tortilla with about 3/4c fresh spinach, and about a quarter cup each of sliced roma tomatoes and blackbeans. Cover wrapped enchiladas with leftover sauteed veggies. Mix the diced tomatoes and green chilis with the enchilada sauce and pour over enchiladas. Cover with entire package of cheese, and bake in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and a bit crusty.

Root Beer Floats

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Root beer of your choice

Place 2-3 scoops of ice cream in each cup and pour soda over top. Enjoy with a spoon or a straw!

2 comments:

A tip! for the ice cream floats if the soda is cold, then bits of it will actually freeze in the crevices along the ice cream making frozen soda pieces mixed with ice cream. Oh. my. It's my favorite thing about floats.

Also, if you put a little soda in first then ice cream, then more soda, it doesn't foam up so much and you can fit more soda in your cup. Of course that may or may not be the goal depending on exactly how much sugar & caffeine you'd like to be consumed ;-)